


You are the only exception

by lostonhorizon



Category: Strictly Come Dancing RPF
Genre: F/M, My mind is completely taken up by these two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:53:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28676256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostonhorizon/pseuds/lostonhorizon
Summary: Inspired by the song You are the only exception by Paramore and Week 4 training.
Relationships: Giovanni Pernice/Ranvir Singh
Kudos: 21





	You are the only exception

“Maybe I know somewhere deep in my soul  
That love never lasts  
And we've got to find other ways to make it alone  
Or keep a straight face  
And I've always lived like this  
Keeping a comfortable distance  
And up until now I had sworn to myself  
That I'm content with loneliness  
Because none of it was ever worth the risk  
But you are the only exception  
You are the only exception  
You are the only exception  
You are the only exception  
I've got a tight grip on reality  
But I can't let go of what's in front of me here  
I know you're leaving in the morning when you wake up  
Leave me with some kind of proof it's not a dream”

It was 9am. Giovanni stood against the wall in the training room at Elstree Studios. Rehearsals also started at 9. Ranvir was due to get there at that time. Giovanni wasn’t one for waiting around. He likes to get on with training so when she didn’t turn up at 9 he started to get annoyed. Where was she? He ran her phone. No answer. Not only did they have to start training but the camera crew were coming too to film some stuff for their VT. 

20 minutes later, Giovanni was annoyed but started to get worried too. She didn’t have GMB this morning, she should’ve been there. He knew she had nothing on this morning. He knew she always had her phone on her. That’s one of things he’s learned about her, due to her job, she constantly had to keep up with current events and she did that through social media. So when she didn’t answer, he started to panic a little. He paced up and down the room contemplating what to do when the door swung open with a stressed Ranvir as she flung her bag down. 

“I’m so sorry, Tushaan didn’t want me to go. I had to make sure he was okay before leaving him with my mum” Ranvir said seemingly out of breath and taking her coat off. 

Giovanni softened. He was annoyed but there was something about her what made her different. If any of his other dance partners were late he would’ve been annoyed. He tried telling himself it’s because she worked hard but all his other dance partners worked hard. He tried telling himself it was because she was a mum, but Faye and Michelle were mothers too. But seeing her, he couldn’t get annoyed at her. 

“Giovanni?” Ranvir glanced at him while his mind was occupied somewhere else.  
He snapped out of his gaze and looked back at her. “Yes, it’s ok. Shall we start training?” Giovanni said.  
“I suppose we must” Ranvir said. It was Week 4. Cha cha cha week. Ranvir tried pushing it to the back of her mind. Her heart wasn’t in this one at all, in fact she hated it. Giovanni knew that but he didn’t understand why. 

She knelt down to grab her heels for dancing from her bag. She swapped her trainers for them. Giovanni walked over to his bag and took off his jacket. He looked over at her putting her heels on. Her hair fell down her back with little curls at the ends. He never seemed to take his eyes off her no matter how hard he tried. She knew but he tried to be discrete. There had been flirting between them since they met. How could you not flirt with someone like him? He was a natural charmer. At first it was a flirty comment or a slight glance, it was just fun to them both. They were both single and weren’t doing anything wrong. But as time went on, it changed. There was something about her that was different. That woman would be the death of him. 

He snapped out of his gaze when Ranvir got back up. It was Wednesday so they had a few days to go over the cha cha cha. She knew the routine, it was about perfecting it. 

“Right, shall we start with a run through just to make sure you know it?” He said walking across to her.  
“Yeah” she seemed more shy than usual. Almost nervous to be around him, like it was the first week. He picked up on it very quickly but he thought maybe once they started dancing she’d be fine. He went over to start the music. 

Giovanni knew starting the dance on her own was hard as she already didn’t have confidence going into the dance but she did it well the last two days so he knew she could do it 

The music started and Giovanni was stood from a distance behind her before he came on watching her as she got her hips perfect. God, he thought she was so sexy. He approached behind her to do the part where she moves her hips against him. Just as he wrapped his arm around her, she almost jumped out of his hold. 

“I can’t do this” Ranvir murmured as she ran over to the sofa on the verge of tears.

Giovanni swiftly turned the music off and went to the side. With anyone else he’d be annoyed how many times they stopped saying she couldn’t couldn’t do it, Ranvir seemed to be different. 

“Ranvi, what’s wrong? You were doing it perfectly, you did it right the last two days” He said placing his hand on her knee circling it softly. He hated seeing her so upset. 

“It’s not that” She whispered, doing anything to stop her bursting into tears. 

“What is it? Tell me, you know you can trust me” he said reassuringly reaching for her hand.

“I saw a comment about us, they said how embarrassing it is for someone like me to dance with you. They said I was too old and not beautiful enough and they are right” Ranvir said as tears fell down her face. 

His blood boiled. He was so incredibly protective of her. “They are not right” he said strongly. 

“They are, for god sake look at you, you are a 30 year old and I’m a 43 year old tired mum. This dance is not meant for me. It’s meant for someone sexy and beautiful. That’s who you are supposed to do it with not me” She looked down at her knees as her tears fell, she didn’t expect Giovanni to disagree.

“Ranvir” 

“Look at me” 

She turned to look at him, her eyes showed so much pain and self doubt. He would do anything to get those thoughts out of her mind. 

“There is no one in the world who I would rather do this dance with” he said so much in just one sentence. 

“Why? You know how many women would love to get the chance to dance with you? Why would anyone want to dance with me?” She looked away from him again.  
Giovanni tried resisting his feelings for weeks. He been with some of his dance partners before but he was so much more cautious with her. Because she was different. He saw how broken she was. He didn’t want to mess her around. He couldn’t, he cared about her too much. He knew that if he was going to do this he had to certain. He had to know he was fully committed. 

“Because you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen” 

“You’re just saying that...” looking away from him, she pushed aside his comment as just trying to be nice. 

“Ranvir” he softly turned the side of her cheek to make her look at him. 

“No I’m not” her eyes widened at his comments, she couldn’t believe someone like him would ever think that about her. Their faces were so close, almost touching as their lips nearly brushed against each other. He had his hand on her cheek. 

He knew that he was certain about her. He couldn’t mess her around, he couldn’t do that, not when she had a child too. He gently moved closer to her and was about to kiss her when they were was a knock on the door. They both jumped away from each other. Giovanni went up to open the door to the camera crew there to film for the VT.  
Shit, he completely forgot. 

Ranvir just sat on the sofa trying to process what just happened. Did he really feel the same way as her? Did she even know what she felt? She looked over to see Giovanni letting the camera crew in, she realised she had to compose herself and get the day done at least. She was a journalist, she knew she had to act.

“Morning!” She got up from the sofa and approached the crew with a smile on her face. Giovanni was amazed how quickly she could switch. She had gotten used to it by now. Giovanni couldn’t do that, if he felt a way, he couldn’t hide his feelings. 

The next few hours, they were running through the routine for the cameras and they were individually filmed talking about the routine and how it was going. They filmed a little earlier in the week when he was teaching her it but this was just the completed routine.  
When they ran through the routine, she danced it better than she ever danced it before. She didn’t know what was going on between her and Giovanni. She couldn’t think about that right now she just knew after what Giovanni said to her she should be confident and she tried. Giovanni was amazed at how well she was dancing the routine. She’d never danced like this before. It made him smile at how well she was doing. 

After a long day of filming, the crew said how great they thought it was and left them alone. 

“You danced incredibly today” Giovanni said picking up his coat at the other side of the room to her. 

“Thank you” she said softly, he could tell once the crew left she was nervous again. 

“Well I’ll see you tomorrow” he said heading for the door. Normally they would hug each other and say goodbye but this time it was distant. He wanted to go hug her but he didn’t think it would make her comfortable. He thought he had overstepped and she didn’t feel the same as he did. 

She watched as he headed to the door. Something came over her. She didn’t want him to leave.  
“Giovanni?” She said so quickly it was without thinking. 

“Yes” he replied turning around to face her. 

“Are you free tonight?” She said. 

What was she doing? She couldn’t quite believe those words just came out of her mouth. She wanted to spend more time with him. He made her feel safe and loved. Any other man she would not have just done that but it seemed he was the only exception. 

Giovanni couldn’t believe it. Did she feel the same? Why was she saying that? He couldn’t focus on that now. He was happy and of course he was going to say yes. 

“Yes, of course I’m free” he said not being able to hide his smile that was plastered all over his face. 

“It’s just, I don’t want to go home alone tonight. Tushaan is at his dads and I...”  
“You don’t have to explain, I’m coming” he said grabbing his stuff and following her outside. 

Her car was waiting outside. They had to be cautious because before there was paparazzi but luckily today there wasn’t. They quickly got into the car.  
The drive home was very quiet. Neither of them said anything, they didn’t really know what to say. It was about an hour drive to the chilterns. Ranvir was just checking up on events of the day, in the end she still had a job as a political editor so she had to keep up. Giovanni was so amazed that after a long day of training she still worked, replying to emails, checking social media and reading newspapers. 

They arrived around 5pm and they thanked the driver. He had never been to her house. They were surronded by beautiful country hills, it took him back to the day they first met at Stonor park which was only a 10 minute drive from her house. How things had changed.  
It was a beautiful Victorian house but with a modern interior. She opened the door to her living room and Schmizzles came running through. 

“Hey, oh you’re excited!” Giovanni knelt down to a very excitable Schmizzles jumping up at him. Ranvir laughed softly at them. “At least this time he’s not being stuck in his lead like he was in Stonor Park” Giovanni said hoping to lighten the mood. “Hey that was an accident” she playfully responded. He made her feel more relaxed. 

“Sit down” she said heading towards the kitchen. He sat down on the sofa with Schmizzles at his feet.  
He saw all her papers for work on the table. The training room was very much his domain. This was her domain. 

“Slight problem, I don’t seem to have much in for dinner” she said quite embarrassed. She didn’t have time to go shopping much. 

He could sense the sadness in her voice. He stood up and poked his head around into the kitchen. “What have you got?” he said while she opened her cupboards. “Pasta, chopped tomatoes“ “A-ha, you’re fine then” he said with a big smile. “Why exactly?” She questioned. “Just trust me” whenever he said that her heart just seemed to melt. He took off his jacket to reveal his Nike training shirt, with no sleeves so she could see his strong arms which glided her around the dance floor every Saturday night. 

“Let someone else cook for once” he said so much in such little words. He understood that for Ranvir it was just her and Tushaan. She never let anyone in and he knew he couldn’t let her down when she gives him the opportunity. “Are you sure?” she said. “Yes, I enjoy cooking” he replied. 

He grabbed the pasta and tomatoes and spices from her rack. She just stood for a second while he began cooking. She moved closer to him and put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m just going to get changed out of these training clothes” she said smiling as she walked away.  
She grabbed her bag and went upstairs into her bedroom. Shutting the door, she just stood against it for a moment. This is the first time she’d let in a man into her life since her divorce. He was the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen and he was coming for her downstairs in her house. How her life had changed. 

She got changed out of her clothes and put on some black leggings and a loose white top. She tied her hair back and put it in a clip. She went back downstairs 10 minutes later. 

Giovanni was cooking away, with the radio on and he was moving his hips singing away to the music. She stood behind him smitten as hell, watching him enjoying himself.It reminded her of the time he filmed her singing ‘don’t go breaking my heart’ without her knowing. That song couldn’t be more true for her.  
“Nice singing” She said laughing making him turn around and flashing her a smile. He thought she looked so perfect, she wasn’t dressed up, she had no makeup on but he thought she was just stunning. “It’s the Italian in me” he said smirking to himself. 

“Red wine?” Ranvir said, grabbing a bottle from her wine rack. “Wow, you know me well” he replied chucking to himself. This is all he wanted. Nights like this with her. She poured them both a glass and placed it on the side next to him. 

“Thank you” he said in a thick Italian accent. She took a large sip of her wine. If she needed wine any night, it was tonight. 

After 20 minutes, the dinner was done. He served it up into two plates and they went to sit down on the sofa with their wine. 

“You know you still haven’t told me what you’ve put in this” Ranvir said giving him that a look of suspicion. “You aren’t going to know until you try it” she tried not to bite her lip, he drove her crazy. She gave it a try, “wow that’s delicious, how did you make that?” She said so surprised he managed to make that from things in her cupboard.  
“Back in Sicily, from a young age we were taught how to cook meals from pasta, chopped tomatoes and spices” Giovanni said, she really could sit and listen to him talk for hours. 

“You’ll have to teach me how to cook like that, Tushaan loves Italian and so do I” She said.  
“Italian cuisine or Italians?” Giovanni teased.  
She laughed so hard it seemed to fill up the room. He hasn’t seen her laugh like this all day. He was the only man to make her laugh like that in a long time.  
“Oh shut up” she shaked her head, not being able to  
contain that smile that he loved. 

They continued eating their meal, Ranvir wanted to know more about him. “Tell me about Sicily”  
Giovanni stopped for a second. This was new to him too. All of his other relationships were different to this. They were mostly about sex and physical attraction. Nobody ever asked him about his life back home, he never had conversations like this but he did with her. She wanted to know. She was the only exception. 

“It’s a beautiful place. I grew up in Mondello in Sicily. I had a good home life, they supported me when I realised I wanted to dance. We moved to Bologna when I was 14 so I could pursue dancing, I never thought I would be dancing on Strictly one day and have my own tour, it’s crazy” he said, she just sat and stared and took it all in.  
“I wish I could visit my family but obviously at the moment that’s not possible” He said sadly. “But I know once this is all over I will go and see them and it will be an amazing moment” he said smiling to himself. 

“I ring them everyday and all they want to talk about is you” 

“What? Really?” Ranvir looked shocked. 

“Yeah, they ask how training is going, how you are, what dance we are doing, they love you” he replied, he couldn’t believe how little she thought of herself.  
“Oh tell them I said hello” she smiled to herself, what was Giovanni telling them? 

“I want to know about you now, tell me about you” He wanted to understand why she was so self conscious and unaware of how beautiful she was. 

Oh fuck. He had to ask that. 

“There’s not much to know” she answered trying to brush on the question. 

“Hey. I know that’s not true”

“Ok well I was born in Preston, I work on good morning Britain, I have an 8 year old son and a dog. That’s it” she said quickly. She distracted herself by picking up their plates and taking them back to the kitchen. 

He wasn’t letting this go. He didn’t want to push her to talk but he needed her understand why she was like this. Why she couldn’t open up to him. He wanted to get rid of any doubt in her mind. 

She stood looking over the sink with her hands on the counter looking out the window. He came up behind her. 

“Why do you think you aren’t beautiful?” He asked delicately, he needed to get those thoughts out of her mind and he couldn’t do that until he knew why. 

She hesitated for a second, she’d never opened herself up like this before since her divorce. 

“I married my husband in 2012, Tushaan was born the same year. I thought we had a happy marriage, everything was fine. We barley argued, he made me happy. But last year, he started to act suspicious. And I found out he was cheating on me, he had been for months” she tried to contain the tears. She’d cried too many tears over him. 

Giovanni just stood there in shock. He didn’t know what to say. Now it all made sense to him. 

“Ranvi, I’m so sorry” 

“When you aren’t enough for the one person who’s supposed to love you more than anyone else in the world, it knocks your confidence” she still hadn’t turned around. She couldn’t bear to face him. 

“Fuck him. If he can’t realise what he had right in front of him then that’s his fault. I don’t know how anyone could do that to you” Giovanni didn’t care anymore. He couldn’t hide his feelings. After finding out that she was cheated on, he was determined to make her realise what she deserves. 

She turned around to face him. Did he just say that? 

Their bodies were inches apart. 

“You are stunning let me show you” he put his arm around her waist and pulled her into him and passionately connected their lips. He had waited 4 weeks for this and it was worth the wait. She pulled away for a second and looked into his eyes. She wanted this too. She crashed her lips into his again. Without hesitation, she wrapped her arms around his neck running her hands through his hair and continued kissing. He picked her up making her squeal and placed her on the kitchen counter. He broke the kiss and started trailing kisses down her neck, his touch was electrifying.  
“Bedroom” she whispered breathlessly. 

He looked back up at her. “Are you sure?” he said. 

“What do you mean? Do you not want to?” She said, she felt all her insecurities start coming back to her. Giovanni could see this, feeling her heart beat faster against him.

“Ranvi, I have been wanting to do this since I first met you but not if you aren’t ready” he said. Her heart became so warm. He really was such a gentleman. “Yes, I’m sure” she said, grabbing his cheek and kissing his passionately. 

He responded by picking her up as she wrapped her legs around his waist, he could feel her smiling into the kiss. He carried her up the stairs not breaking the kiss.  
“Which one?” He said as he reached the top of the stairs. “This one” he opened the door and placed her on the bed. 

He climbed over the top of her but before he could do anything she tugged at his shirt and pulled it over his him. He smirked at how eager she is. “Don’t look at me like that” she playfully teased him. She ran her hands up and down his torso, he truly was the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen. 

He pulled her T-shirt over her and threw it to the other side of the room. “You are breathtaking” he said in his strong accent as he kissed down her body. She pulled him back up to kiss him, running their hands through each other’s hair. 

“Is this a bad time to tell you..”

Oh fuck what is it she thought. 

“We have Argentine Tango next week” 

She smiled while breathing a sigh of relief. “How the hell am I supposed to keep my hands off you?” She said. They both laughed. 

They realised right there what they had was so rare. For Ranvir, for the first time in a long time, she opened up to a man, he was different, he was her exception. For Giovanni, he longed for a relationship like this, where they could talk and laugh all day and she wasn’t just with him for what he looked like, she was his exception.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. I got inspired to write this by reading all the other incredible stories about Ranvir and Gio. Whether they are together or not, I love them both and I completely respect their privacy.


End file.
